The Future of Fertility

Jackie Rotman, Founder & CEO of Center for Intimacy Justice. Jackie was drawn to start Center for Intimacy Justice, a social change organization committed to equity and well-being in people's intimate lives, after being raised in a family that talked loudly and proudly about sexuality as well as a traumatic event she faced while attending an Ivy League institution. We wanted to chat with Jackie to get the behind-the-scenes take on her widely publicized 2022 report describing Meta's censorship of health ads for women.

Wendy Lund, Chief Client Officer, Health@WPP. Wendy, a sufferer of endometriosis, a famously painful condition, was drawn to the healthcare industry early in her career when she went to work for the National League for Nursing, Planned Parenthood and then made the move to agency/corporate side. She's since dedicated her career to getting the word out to patients about health and wellness solutions. We wanted to get Wendy's take on how we shape and disperse better narratives about the female experience outside of the doctor's office, including that of pain.

Lauren Makler, the Co-Founder & CEO of Cofertility. Prior to starting Cofertility, Lauren spent the bulk of her career at Uber, where she founded and led strategy at Uber Health. We wanted to chat with Lauren to dig into the business of egg freezing, what women are looking for when it comes to their experience, and how we can collectively do better to make doing something so potentially valuable for your future more accessible and more human.

Amber Coleman-Mortley, Senior Director of Community and Culture at The Female Quotient. Amber has spent her career in roles that have centered around equality, equity, community-building, and civic engagement. We wanted to chat with Amber to dig into why it's so important for more women to be at the top, not just because of what we bring to the table as empathetic, creative, and resilient leaders, but also because it's better for all of our health and wellness.

Smita Reddy, Global Chair of the Food & Beverage sector, Global Client Leader at Edelman. Smita's a marketer who's always been particularly drawn to purpose-driven brands and has spent most of her career at Edelman, helping to mold the famed agency into what it is today. We wanted to chat with Smita to dig into the distinct responsibility big brands have to both broaden and change the conversation about women's health and wellness.

Traci Keen, CEO of Mate Fertility. While not featured on her LinkedIn profile, Traci's background and education is in graphic design and fine arts. When she realized she had a knack for numbers and could wield a mean spreadsheet, she moved into finance and has been improving and growing businesses ever since. Mate Fertility is a clinic dedicated to increasing access to care for the 1 in 6 who have infertility. We wanted to chat with Traci to understand what changes the fertility industry needs in order to efficiently and effectively build families, when 1 in 6 people have infertility today.

Dr. Alison Cowan, Head of Medical Affairs at Mirvie. Alison has spent most of her career as a board-certified OB/GYN, but given her interest in diagnostics, jumped to the business side when she learned about Mirvie. Mirvie is changing the game for moms through their use of RNA testing to diagnosis potential pregnancy complications like pre-eclampsia, pre-term birth, and gestational diabetes earlier. We wanted to chat with Alison to synthesize why, exactly, we have the highest maternal mortality rate among industrial nations, as well as to hear her ideas as to how we can turn the data around through focus, innovation, and investment.

Jenny Dwork, VP of Brand Marketing at Wisp. Jenny's marketing and storytelling experience has been incredibly varied, from working as a producer for CNBC during the 2008 financial crisis to leading Aerosoles' turnaround strategy. Wisp is, dare we say, democratizing the vagina, making it fast and easy to treat common issues that this amazing body part faces, from yeast infections to UTIs. We wanted to chat with Jenny to dig into our lack of access as women as well of the importance of destigmatization when it comes to sexual and reproductive health.

Leslie is the author of two books, Fertility Rules and Bumpin': The Modern Guide to Pregnancy, and was part of the founding team of Rock Health. Just like any other industry, we can't further women's health without smart investment in the right solutions. But unlike other industries, women's health has historically been under-researched, which means investors are only now understanding how big the opportunity we have in front of us is. From the point solutions to the winners who have seemingly taking it all, Leslie helps break down the complexity of funding and furthering solutions in women's health in 2023.

About our guest: Andrea Palmer has been a media industry trailblazer for over 20 years, pioneering innovative strategies that have since become standard practice in healthcare marketing. As President of Publicis Health Media, Andrea manages cross-functional agency strategy, activation teams, and significant holding company-level integrations–delivering best-in-class integrated media and content solutions for some of the largest healthcare brands. Her expertise spans pharma, OTC, medical device, and technology healthcare service brands, as well as enterprise-level businesses.

Women's Health Mavericks is a podcast dedicated to shining a light on the people who are moving the needle when it comes to women's health and wellness. From inspiring entrepreneurs and innovators to leaders of big brands defining culture to movers and shakers of biosciences companies dedicated to treating women, we'll introduce you to the people, the ideas, and the businesses that are changing the face of women's health in America and across the globe. Hosted by Abby Mercado, Co-Founder & CEO of Rescripted.

About our guest: Dr. Angie Beltsos is the CEO, Clinical, and Medical Director of Kindbody, a full-service, modern, and accessible fertility clinic that doubles as a fertility benefits provider. Prior to Kindbody, Dr. Beltsos was the Founder, CEO, and Medical Director of Vios Fertility Institute, which was acquired by Kindbody in February 2022, giving the combined company, worth over $1 billion, a new title: Unicorn.

About our guest: Dr. Asima Ahmad is the Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer of Carrot Fertility, a global fertility care platform for women, who are often at the center of fertility care decisions and consequences. Importantly, Carrot serves people of every age, race, income, sex, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, and geography.

About our guest: Claire Coder is the Founder and CEO of Aunt Flow. Aunt Flow, a company that's making the world better for people with periods, provides high-quality and sustainable period products for schools and businesses. With 86% of women reporting to have started their period in public without the supplies they need, Aunt Flow believes that period products should be freely accessible in all public bathrooms.

About our guest: Jenny Holstrom is the Founder & CEO of Coupleness. Coupleness is a mobile app aimed to act as a common micro-diary for couples who want to communicate more with each other. Coupleness makes it easy for couples to take care of their relationships, creating a way for couples to be proactive and build positive habits in everyday life.

About our guest: Dr. Lyndsey Harper is the Co-Founder & CEO of Rosy. Rosy is an app specifically for women to increase sexual wellness and education with a focus on low libido. Developed by doctors and psychologists, Rosy is the first-of-its-kind platform for the 43% of us who experience sexual concerns.

About our guest: Nara Lee is the Founder & CEO of Doveras. Doveras reimagines preconception care and navigation to help more people build the families they want. The company's first product is focused on naturally improving fertility potential with behavioral interventions — backed by 100,000 studies.

About our guest: Claire Tomkins, CEO of Future Family solves one of the largest obstacles to reproductive technology, financial planning. Inspired by Claire's own struggle to start a family, Future Family helps women and couples navigate their fertility journey as the first company to bring together financing, technology, and concierge care in an easy-to-use online platform.

About our guest: Pam Pure, co-founder and CEO of Posterity Health shares how the pandemic ushered fertility health into the digital space. Her husband and co-founder, Dr. Barrett Cowan, saw an unmet need for couples unable to receive care during this time and created the first all-encompassing digital platform addressing male infertility. By partnering with highly skilled clinicians, labs, and various services across the country, Posterity Health removes this additional burden of infertility for any person or couple on this journey. Pam also shares what her biggest risks were during the nascent stages of their company and what ultimately enabled them to be successful.

About our guest: Gurjeet Singh of Oma Fertility creates the first infertility clinic to use AI technology in optimizing IVF cycles. He built Oma Fertility on 3 tenants: 1. Making sure couples have successful cycles 2. Creating human-centered clinics and 3. Making IVF accessible to all. In this episode, he shares the key reason why most cycles fail and how Oma can solve for this problem through innovation and technology, like AI. Gurjeet also shares how vertical integration has enabled his team to lower the typical cost of IVF, creating a more inclusive program for all.

About our guest: Kate Morton, CEO of Funk It Wellness, gives us a deep dive into her own journey, healing through food and becoming a CEO in the food-is-medicine space. After years of struggling with disordered eating and hormonal imbalance, she took it upon herself to solve this unmet need –using safe, nutrition-backed science to regulate her cycles. From making home-grown seed cycling kits to running a full-fledged company within 2 years, Kate shares how any rising CEO who menstruates can optimize running a business even with fluctuating hormone cycles.

Dr. Arredondo and Pozitivf's core belief is that having a healthy child is a universal right. However, 90% of people who need IVF do not have access to IVF. As a medical entrepreneur himself, he adopts an abundance mentality to solve this unmet need. At Pozitivf, Dr. Arredondo challenges the status quo, thinking of patient-centered approaches to reduce operational waste and making each visit more efficient and affordable for patients.

About our guests: Tara Comonte and Joshua Abram share how TMRW disrupts outdated infrastructure for storing frozen eggs and embryos. Using technological breakthroughs from the last 40 years, TMRW aims to digitize and leverage robotic storage to decrease costs and increase throughput. The future of IVF lies in automation, which will allow more couples to gain the access they need, creating a more inclusive process for all.

About our guest: Somer Baburek is the Co-Founder, CEO, and President of Hera Biotech. Hera Biotech is developing and commercializing the world's first non-surgical test for the definitive diagnosis and staging of endometriosis. Hera's mission is bold: to relentlessly seek to understand the root cause of diseases in women's health, thereby uncovering new ways of diagnosing and treating them.

About our guest: Shelley Bailey is the Founder & CEO of Famlee. Famlee is the most comprehensive FDA-approved, FSA/HSA covered, full-service digital fertility solution for women looking to balance their hormones for whole-body health—and to prepare their bodies for baby. Shelley refused to “wait & see” when getting pregnant came harder than expected, so she went on a mission to empower women everywhere to balance their hormones & take control of their health journey.

About Our Guest: Maureen Brown of Mosie Baby Maureen Brown is the Founder & CEO of Mosie Baby. Mosie Baby is the developer and inventor of the Mosie Kit, a groundbreaking at-home insemination product that's safe, simple, affordable, and clinically proven to be as effective as IUI for conception. Having helped more than 60,000 people on their path to parenthood, Mosie Baby celebrates how people build families on their own terms.

About Our Guest: Dr. Brian Levine of Nodal Dr. Brian Levine is the founder of Nodal, a company on a mission to disrupt the surrogacy industry by focusing on transparency and access as tools to drive down the astronomical costs. The company is building a platform and community based on education, advocacy, and support with the goal of connecting intended parents and gestational carriers that share similar values. As a well-loved physician board-certified in both reproductive endocrinology and infertility and obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. Levine has seen the problems Nodal is solving first-hand, many, many times over.

About our guest: Noelle Acosta, Co-Founder & CEO of Noula Health Noelle Acosta is the Co-Founder & CEO of Noula Health. Noula, with a focus on culturally competent care, is for birthing people who want to better understand and take care of their bodies, making personalized reproductive health information and support more accessible through affordable at-home precision health testing, digital care plans, and 1:1 coaching from experts.

About our guest: Dr. Amy Beckley is the Founder & CEO of MFB Fertility. MFB Fertility researches, develops, and sells in-home tests for fertility tracking purposes. The first product they developed is the Proov test, which measures the presence of progesterone metabolites in urine. As progesterone is a hormone produced in the ovaries after ovulation has occurred, Proov's breakthrough tests allow couples to better monitor their fertility at home.

About our guest: Jessica Bell Van Der Wal is the Co-Founder & CEO of Frame Fertility. Frame Fertility is the first and only evidence-based platform that enables the early identification of fertility risk and care navigation leading to better fertility and overall health. Frame was inspired by Jessica and her husband Corey's own challenging fertility journey; they became dedicated to giving everyone the power to pursue parenthood confidently and on their own terms.

About our guest: Dr. Elina Berglund is the Co-Founder & CEO of Natural Cycles. Natural Cycles is the world's first, and only, app to be certified as a contraceptive both in the US and in Europe. A Nobel Prize-winning particle physicist, Elina was looking for an effective natural contraceptive, so applied her skills to create an algorithm that could accurately pinpoint when a woman is fertile.

About Our Guest: Suzie Devine of Binto Suzie Devine is the Founder & CEO of Binto. Binto is on a mission to help women everywhere get access to safe and effective over-the-counter products and educational content, alongside access to licensed healthcare professionals, all at an attainable price point. Binto has redefined women's journeys from period to menopause, with the audacious vision of turning the women's health market on its head by using preventative medicine rather than turning to prescription drugs.

About our Guest: Priyanka Jain of Evvy Women weren't required to be included in U.S. clinical trials until 1993, meaning we don't know nearly as much about their bodies as we do about men's bodies. Evvy is working to change that. Priyanka Jain is the Co-Founder & CEO of Evvy. Evvy is on a mission to radically reinvent how we understand and treat the female body, starting with the vaginal microbiome. Evvy's first product — the Evvy Vaginal Health Test — is the first-ever at-home vaginal microbiome test to use metagenomic sequencing to tell you what's up down there, why it matters, and what you can do about it.

About Our Guest: Paxton Maeder-York of Alife Health Artificial intelligence has permeated our world. Can AI help us build the families of our dreams? Paxton Maeder-York is the CEO & Founder of Alife Health. Alife Health uses artificial intelligence to improve the equity and efficacy of IVF. Paxton and team have built one of the largest and most diverse IVF data collections, made up of millions of patient cycles and sourced from the top fertility clinics around the world. Alife's AI software analyzes this data to identify what treatment plans have produced the best outcomes for past, similar IVF patients.

About Our Guest: Khaled Kteily of Legacy You know what they say: It takes two to tango. We talk ad nauseam about the importance of egg quality and quantity, but Legacy is making it a point to place equal emphasis on sperm. Khaled Kteily is the Founder and CEO of Legacy. Founded by a team of healthcare and fertility experts at Harvard, Legacy is a digital fertility clinic for men and people with sperm. Legacy has raised almost $50 million from some of the world's best investors to change outdated views on fertility as a “women's issue” while helping rebalance the responsibilities of family planning.

In Rescripted's new podcast, The Future of Fertility, Co-Founder & CEO Abby Mercado will shine a light on the entrepreneurs and innovators who are changing the face of family-building. With billions in funding over the past few years, she'll introduce you to the people, the ideas, and the businesses that are changing the fertility industry and, in turn, millions of people's lives, like yours. Coming soon wherever you get your podcasts. Want to learn more? Visit Rescripted.com.